ESREA Life History and Biography Network (LHBN) Conference, 3-5 March 2027

We warmly invite you to the ESREA Life History and Biography Network (LHBN) conference "Working with diversity in life history research using biographical and auto/biographical approaches: Elaborating on theory, epistemology, and methodology", taking place on 3-5 March 2027, at the Department of Education, Stockholm University. It is convened by Laura Formenti and Małgosia Malec Rawiński.

Department of Education, Stockholm University. Photo: Eva Dalin, Stockholm University.

The conference seeks to provide an open and inclusive academic platform for the exchange of research using biographical and life history narrative approaches in adult learning and education. By elaborating on theory, epistemology, and methodology, the conference will discuss ongoing studies and approaches in Europe and beyond, and shed light on recent developments, emerging problems, and new discourses concerning adult learning. We invite international researchers to draw attention to the potential of epistemic diversity in using biographical and life history narrative approaches. We look for inspiring and innovative research methods and designs.

2nd Call for papers

Please find the 2nd call for papers here:

Call for papers ESREA Life History and Biography Network pdf, 602.3 kB.

Conference themes

Narrative, biographical and participatory research on adult education and learning
Emerging theories and models in biographical research on adult life in various settings and spaces
Experiences of biographical methodology – finding new ways of elaborating narratively and figuratively
(Re-)conceptualising narrative, biographical and ethnographic data
Participatory methods in biographical research
The role of auto/biographical research and the biographical researcher - self-reflexivity, biographicity, and ethics
Working abductively - analysing and writing up biographical and narrative data

Important dates

25 November 2026: Deadline for submission of proposals
20 December 2026: Acceptance of abstracts will be confirmed within this deadline
3 January 2027: Deadline for early bird registration (If the payment has not been received by this date, the higher fee will be applicable)
2 February 2027: Final deadline for registration and payment of the conference fee
3-5 March 2027: Date of the conference

Conference program

Preliminary program pdf, 51 kB. (october 2026)

Book of abstracts

This is to be updated when the abstracts are available.

Map and directions

Find us here:

The Department of Education

The Swedish Museum of Natural History

Registration and conference fees

Conference fees

Included in the conference fee, besides access to the conference, are 2 lunches, 4 coffee breaks, welcoming reception and the conference dinner.

All fees include Swedish value added tax (VAT)


	Until 3 January 2027	From 3 January 2027
	Early bird	Ordinary
ESRA member	3 100 SEK	3 600 SEK
Non ESRA member	3 600 SEK	4 100 SEK
PhD student	2 500 SEK	3 000 SEK

Registration

Link to registration will be provided later.

Submission of abstracts

We welcome a variety of submissions related to the key thematic areas in the form of paper presentations, symposia, or interactive workshops.

All proposals should be drafted in Times New Roman, 12 pt. References according to APA 7. Language is English.

Paper presentations

Abstracts (300 words) should highlight the main epistemological, theoretical and methodological points of a completed or ongoing research, and list no more than 5 references.

Symposia

A symposium contains 3 to 5 interconnected presentations, each with its own title and author(s). The symposium proposal should have a title and a short general introduction (300 words) illustrating the overall theme, followed by the separate presentations according to the instructions for paper presentations.

Workshops

Workshops are intended to encourage interdisciplinary interaction and reciprocal learning, create spaces for creativity and collective exploration, and reflection through exchanging experiences and dialogue.

We welcome two types of workshops: (1) methodological workshops (e.g. focused on research interviews, data analysis, or a specific practice) and (2) workshops for discussing research ideas.

Methodological workshops: contributors are invited to submit an abstract (300 words) outlining the background and aim of the proposed methodology and the organisation of the workshop. Please insert clear instructions about specific needs related to space, materials, and maximum number of participants.
Workshops for discussing (new) research ideas: contributors are invited to submit an abstract (300 words) outlining the main idea, aims, research question(s), and preliminary expected outcomes of the workshop. The proposal is meant to create a collective mind with the participants, foster imagination, and co-design a biographical study based on the proposed idea. The organisation of the workshop needs to be clearly described, along with needed materials, and maximum number of participants.

Please send two separate files:

Proposal typology [paper, symposium, workshop A or B], title, author(s)’ names, affiliations, and e-mails. Contact author. Add a short professional bio of each author in the third person (max 100 words each), that will be published online.
Contains: proposal typology, title, anonymised abstract.

Please follow the link for submission the proposals:

https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/83691/submitter

The conference will be held in English. Online presentations are not planned.